Volvo PCP C30 Polestar - Top Gear Lap
 

Hello everyone,

Last nights top gear showed the Polestar C30 put up against the Ford Rs500 and Impreza cosworth.

As you will have noticed Top Gear would not announce the lap time due the the PCP not being a production car, fair enough.

Though for all of you intrested the unofficial time was 1.27.4 beating both the RS and Cossie.

Also for those who want to see more of the Polestar it will be attending the Goodwood festival of speed this summer.

Regards
Liam
VCUK

It was very impressive. I'm struggling to see how Volvo don't want to build it, given the rave reviews it has received, and the interest in the brand it has generated. It might make a loss, even...but what a 'halo' vehicle...! I'm sure the BTCC 850s didn't exactly make money by themselves...

cheers

James

I would imagine James its because as the engine is tuned somewhat over what a standard T5 engine is that the bean counters have done the sums on possible warranty payments and given it the thumbs down, no matter what the halo effect is they don't consider it to be a worthwhile cost.

I could just see the posts on this forum now if it was in production, My polestar C30 is junk its blown up the engine, the gearbox/ 4wd system has gone, its not fit for purpose... i'm taking them to court.... trading standards etc etc.

If Volvo were keen to have a high perfomance flagship they'd engineer it in house from the start and spend money and make a decent product to start with.....


hang on didnt they go to all that effort once before and make the S60R and V70R's which were not at all comparable to the competition from the Germans that they were trying to compete with.

I'd be interested to know out of the S60R's and V70R's in the UK, how many were private/company car orders versus dealer demonstrator models.

I'm guessing it would show interesting figures and explain why they've been dropped and instead they now offer R design trim level for the sport look.


I think give it a few more years whilst volvo builds itself again as a brand in whatever direction its currently heading in and they may just start to do a Proper R model again.

If Polestar thought there was the market for the car, shouldnt they be offering it themselves. I guess they've done the sums and without Volvo's economies of scale they cant deliver the product for a price people would be willing to pay for the car.

I wonder if the previous owners Ford are putting the blockers on it as they dont want another RS rival. Volvo still use Ford engines and platforms and they did do it before with the S40R

Just to clarify, if anyone thinks this car's engine is just a 'tweaked' T5..
As already officially stated the engine has new internals(rods, pistons), other intake-camshaft, bigger turbo/IC/injectors.

Apart from that, the entire engineblock is completely different as well. It is undoubtedly stronger than the Focus RS block, wich in turn is stronger than the T5 block.
That said, this engine is capable of handling quite some output.

You have got a point there. I don't see why Volvo/Polestar could not build a 'detuned' version C30 PCP 340bhp with Similar torque, Haldex 4wd, brembos, 4c active chassis - most of these parts are off the shelf anyway.

I know what you're saying but...but Mitsubishi offered a 3 year warranty on the Evo 9 FQ-400, and that was only a 2.0. You'd like to think that the 2.5 wouldn't be working as hard, all else being equal.

I doubt Polestar did anything that radical to the block itself. I don't think you'd need to to achieve a reliable 400bhp. North of 500bhp more radical work seems to be necessary (closing of the deck, for example), but the RS500 with the standard block makes 340-350bhp or so with the standard turbo, so a larger turbo would pretty easily tip you over the 400 mark. I'm pretty sure that's what Chesh meant by "tweaked" (opposed to just a re-map and exhaust, like the RS500)...rods and pistons, plus cams and bolt-ons are a pretty well established formula.

cheers

James

Hello faderfikus,

Could you clarify what has been changed for the PCP's engine block over the RS?

I wasnt aware that Polestar did anything extra to the block castings etc?

look forward to hearing from you

who wants it
 

and if like me you want to drive it let me no.....as im 5 mins away from goodwood with a tow truck...........lol you aint seen me right ....:thumbs_up:

Liners are made of a different material. Also the coolantslits are of similar design as those on the diesel engines.